The firing of Kevin McCarthy, ousted by the Trumpist fringe of his own party, has highlighted the gaping fissures running through American conservatives a year before the 2024 presidential election.
• Also read: Will Republican chaos benefit Biden?
• Also read: The speaker of the US House of Representatives was impeached, a historic first
In its more than 200-year history, the United States has never removed the speaker. But here, less than three years after the attack on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, the American Congress is once again reeling from history.
“Great instability”
“Yesterday showed once again how much chaos there is within the Republican Party and how much chaos the Republican Party is willing to impose on the country,” said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and politics at Princeton University.
By taking control of the House of Representatives in January, conservatives hoped to shine a spotlight on Democratic President Joe Biden, whom they accuse of being “corrupt” and “lying to the American people.”
“The chaos in the House today makes it harder to talk about the failure that is the Biden presidency,” influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham lamented on Tuesday evening.
The “Grand Old Party” is not yet at the end of its problems: the debate about Kevin McCarthy’s successor has already taken on the appearance of a trench war. The names of Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, members of the far right, are circulating forcefully.
“This plunges the institution into great instability,” at a time when Congress must immediately vote on a new budget and decide on a possible new financial framework for Ukraine, Professor Zelizer noted to AFP.
About forty days before a possible budget paralysis, parliamentary work was suspended for lack of a new speaker.
Trump in court
And then there is Donald Trump. Former president, twice impeached, four times indicted, who far and away dominates the race for the nomination in 2024.
The images of chaos in the House chamber captured by the nation’s television networks were interrupted Tuesday only by footage of the former Republican leader before a civil trial in court in New York.
The septuagenarian was charged with fraud regarding the value of his real estate assets and yet turned this scene into a political platform.
Because that’s the paradox: Every twist in Donald Trump’s legal saga also brings him millions of dollars in campaign contributions, paid by Trumpists convinced that he is the victim of a political scheme.
See you in November 2024
The Republican added fuel to the fire on Wednesday morning by – as usual – calling himself the victim of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by Joe Biden, whom he could face again in the presidential election.
What impact will the Republican Party’s shake-ups have on this November 2024 election? Opinions differ.
The gap between voters and Democrats is already wide, but the surrounding chaos “could impact the undecideds,” who are likely to hold the key to the next election, predicts Professor Zelizer.
“Americans have short memories,” replies Rob Mellen, a professor at the University of South Florida. “We are still 13 months away from the elections and the news will continue to surprise us until then,” he says.
In other words, the most important thing is not the fall, but the landing.